This happens all the time. The difference is, this guy either did something really heinous they couldn't prove (and are taking him down on this), or he has failed miserably at 'office politics', and just pissed off the wrong cop.

This is the reason, plain and simple, why ID cards are wrong, why having nothing to hide does not mean nothing to fear. I dont know what he has done, nor do i care, just yet another police officer has been caught abusing the privileges bestowed upon him/her.

I dont want safeguards to my information, I want to keep my information mine, private, and not have it shared with the police and whoever their friends are.

Imagine when they know all about us

Steve - apparently you're half right. If it turns out the officer is innocent and has nothing to hide then he should still fear. Fear people like you who automatically assume he's guilty at the stage where an investigation has begun into *alleged* misuse. Maybe we should wait until we know all about it? Or if it turns out he's innocent (malicious stuff does happen, as Josh indicated,) will that just be a whitewash?

"the computer system involved was the North Wales force's own intelligence system"

There's a misnamed system if ever there was one...

Just more hot air , after the botched London Tube affair and white wash job(and it would have been total and absolute , if it wasn't for one brave whistle blower)

IPCC , is just another one of Tony Blair's rubber stamp organizations , created to create the illusion of accountability and transparency , no more no less , for English Police Force in it's current behavior and actions is now mirroring the actions of the hated GESTAPO of another in EUROPE! , some 70 years ago!

Let the white wash continue!

They fined a girl 60 quid and 3 points for parking on zig zags lines with her hazard lights on. The police officer gave a big speech of the dangers or parking on zig zag lines, then the camera pans to the left and he's parked on double yellow lines on a corner.

What a twat.

Self righteous drivel from little hitlers.

I mean really, what other job do you know of where they try and out do each other by shopping each other just to show us, the public, that they are upstanding law abiding citizens? What kind of morally bankrupt idiot could do a job like that? Enforcing rules with violence and not caring what the rules are, whether they make sense, whether they harm or hurt? They are not interested in providing a service for us or in having our respect, they are only interested in obedience, they don't care what happens so long as they get to show that they've got more power than civilians, enforce the law, any law, justice fairness, social cohesion, public safety, none of these are relevant to them. They should all get their comeuppance, and none too soon neither. See you on the base line filth!

Sounds a bit like that case of a BT operator doing call searches and providing address details for unlisted numbers. He thought it was a way to earn some cash without doing anything too bad, epecially as those reverse lookup CD's were being pirated on the internet.

Then a unlisted family he provided address details and call mapping for were all murdered, they were not in witness protection but had accepted milder precautions which would have worked. They were key witnesses in a murder case, the BT guy contacted the police himself.

Just musing that sometimes a small indescretion can blow up fast as this seems a very serious allegation if it cannot be spoken about, nothing to do with this guy who is innocent until proven guilty.

The Commissioner is trying to tell us something, he mentions 'independent oversight', this is an anagram for 'Deed Preventing Hot Sin', so presumably this guy was trawling through the sheep shagging section?

...I doute very much he was brousing p@rn or the like. Whatever he is suposed to have done must be very serious. Probably more than a simple data protection problem to.

BTW about the police officer parking on Dobble yellows, the girl in that car was parked in a VERY dangorous place, and there was no other parking on that road, so what should he have done exactly. I agree that there are some policemen who are a**sh**es (Just like any job) but one thing that program did make me feel was that there are still some Police men who will help and give people a slap on the wrist for minor things.

Just to counter the many posts here complaining about the police - I dont think they are all corrupt and devoid of brains.

The few times I have been involved with the Police (on both sides of the law) I have found them to be professional and effective.

There is only one police officer who I thought was useless, after trying to ride a concrete cow outside the omni center in Edinburgh a copper tried to tell me off and give me a lesson in manners - whilst a full blown fight started in plain view of him. Thankfully, his colleague saw sense in leaving me alone and dealing with the fight...

Anyway, this is sensationalist - the offence is ALLEGED ffs.

I find it infintely amusing that socilaists and human righs fanatics, call them what you will, spout all this talk about privacy and innocennce until proven guilty etc when the are talking about themselves and the Public.

Yet all that goes out the window when one of the very same Public dons a uniform.

Put your fanaticism aside, wise up and listen to yourselves for a change.

If even a handful of Police Officers abuse their power that is completely unacceptable, especially given the information that the Government wants to collect.

The public perception of the Police Force where I live in Cleveland has been pretty low since the reign of that wonderful man (ehem...) Ray Mallon. While I believe the Police on the whole mean well and try to do right by everyone, I could not say that I trust any individual Officer. I have seen a handful of minor petty abuses myself, nothing major, but as they build up and stories come through the press it paints a grim view of the Police. The fact that they clearly think these petty abuses are ok is a telling sign I feel.

These people have access to your DNA and soon enough, the details on your ID cards. That worries me.

1: It is alledged

2: I am happy knowing that a policeman is being investigated for an alleged offence.

3: IF guility I am happy knowing that NO ONE is above the law and no doubt will be sentenced accordingly.

4: If he is innocent he will be allowed back to work, without no doubt any appologies from you lot who assume guilt before the investigation has took place.

I have always found the police to be doing their jobs well, and the times I have had to complain (like a police officer overtaking me while turning right without any blue lights) the have treated me with respect. They have a very hard job to do especially with all the red tape and paperwork they have to deal with.

There shouldn't be an immediate assumption of guilt, and the fact of the matter is that if there is guilt, it's publicly been announced and is being dealt with.

In the meantime, "Leon" is complaining of the violent petty mindset of the police - I don't see how that is evidenced here at all!

While, as with any job, there will always be a small few who let the side down, the majority of them are just doing a tough job without which society would be a lot less structured!